Thursday, May 18, 2006

Three Gorges Dam Near Finish

After 13 years of contrusction since 1993, The Three Gorge Dam project will reach another important point: Completion of the dam on 05/20/2006, about 9 months ahead of the schedule.

The whole project will be finished in 2009.

Key facts about China's Three Gorges Dam* The project is located near what was the town of Sandouping in the central province of Hubei on the Yangtze, China's longest and mightiest river.* The dam is 185 metres (607 ft) in height and 2,309 m (7,575 ft) in length .* At full capacity, the dam will be capable of generating 22,400 megawatts of electricity from 32 powerful turbines generators, each with 700 MW capacity.* The dam and attached locks have consumed 27 million cubic metres (950 million cubic feet) of concrete. The total amount of metal used on the project is expected to reach 281,000 tonnes.* The reservoir created by the dam has inundated nearly 600 km (370 miles) of land, including two cities, 11 counties and 116 towns in Hubei and neighbouring Chongqing municipality. More than 1 million people have been relocated, 1,599 factories submerged.* The reservoir can store up to 39.3 billion cubic metres of water.* The static investment of the project was estimated at $10.8 billion in 1993, and dynamic investment is expected to reach $25 billion.* One of its main functions is to tame the Yangtze's floods, which have drowned countless thousands over the centuries.*The project was first suggested by Sun Yat-Sen in his book Strategy for State, Part II: Industrial Plans in 1918. Sun Yat-Sen is considered as the father of the nation of modern China and the founder of Nationalist Party (KMT). KMT fled to Taiwan after it was defeated by China Communist Party in civil war.* Environmentalists fear the project will cause severe pollution and silting by slowing the river's flow with waste from the remnants of abandoned factory sites, homes and hospitals.(For more information, please visit the website of Three Gorges Project Corporation (www.ctgpc.com);Chinadaily, a china's official newspaper, also published an article about the concerns of the project. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-05/15/content_589670.htm